Sydney's Blue Mountains

Being grounded here in LA now till Friday with plenty of free internet gives us a great opportunity to catch up on this blog. I've been behind in posting, more than John. We found out that the internet was not free in our hotels, a big bummer and we just got so busy it was hard to catch up. Boy are we spoiled here in the US with the free wireless everywhere!

We took 3 guided tours in all, to the Blue Mountains in Sydney, the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. John's written about our Reef trip though I have some things to add. So I'll take some time now to talk about the Blue Mountains. This was our first guided trip and we were excited.

We're greeted at our hotel on a drizzly Wednesday Feb 3 at 7:05am by Melanie or "Mel" our guide driving a small SUV from Mount n Beach Safaris for a trip to the Blue Mountains(area near the bush) Hey where are the other people I wonder? Turns out, we're it! No one else signed up so we head out for our very own private tour. Turns out to be great with just the four of us. Mel is quite the character and extremely knowledgeable about all things Down Under. The timing for this trip is perfect too. We've been walking constantly since we got to Australia, so a chance to get off our feet for a couple of hours till we get there is a gift! And I've been hungry for more history and information about Oz so Mel fits the bill perfectly.

Mel is a trip,(no pun intended) I really get that Aussie vibe. She's tough, smart, funny and extremely knowledgeable, maybe a bit of a rebel around the edges, and I think a passionate activist Aussie liberal spirit. Grew up on a farm, hates working in an office. Lives in Parrametta with her husband/partner and 3 dogs: a kelpie( true Aussie breed), a blue keeler (never heard of before, probably another Aussie dog) which is a border collie and kelpie mix and one other which I can't remember. She LOVES her dogs! Show us their pictures so we definitely bond over the dog love.

Anyways, now for the trip. She takes us over the Harbor or "coat hanger" bridge and then on past the Olympic Park stadium (from 2000). Quite a place. Huge huge huge and lots of green type technology put into play. After the Olympics they gave Aussies the chance to buy or bid on living spaces, and have turned the housing area into a nice residential community.

We drive on noticing the rain and clouds. Hmmm will it be there when we arrive? We're supposed to take a 2 hour walk down the canyon when we get there. We are going to play this one by ear.

Our first stop is for some tea at a picnic area right near the Blue Mountains. Tons of Eucalpytus trees abound and hey what's that?A couple of kangaroos hanging out right near our picnic table and a momma kanga with a Joey in her pouch! We can see her tending to her pouch, but can't see inside. The Joey is probably still quite tiny. There's 3 more over by the stream. They are all quite small, which surprised me and quite docile. They don't bound away like deer. We have tea and AnZac cookies (a popular treat, these oatmeal-style cookies were first made for Aussie and New Zealand soldiers during World War I? and now they are a big staple here. ) A minor (myna) bird lands on our table. Mel tries to shoo it away, a pest for her, but its a novelty for us with its yellow markings...

The weather continues to get worse, rain increases and the fog keeps closing in around us everywhere, limiting visibility. A hike down to the valley below is not going to make such sense since you can't see too far in front of you! Mel is not to be deterred though. We decide to play the beat the fog and clouds game. She drives ahead of the clouds and takes us on tons of different back roads all across the Blue Mountain range to different outlooks.



We get some spectacular views with blue sky peaking out enough to see down into valleys and across the cliffs. We see waterfalls sprouting out of the cliffs, trees, rocks, beauty, fog. It lasts all of about 7 minutes and the fog then rolls in which actually gets us some pretty cool photos before we jump in the van and take off for the next site. We never could have done this on our own! Happily near the end of our beat the fog game, we are able to see the famed Three Sister rock formations, one of the biggest sites in the area. Yea! I had really been intending that we'd somehow get to see this.

Mel talks to us a lot about the many different types of trees, it's primarily a eucalyptus forest, but also a bush area. People that live in this area have to be on the watch for bushfires. One type of tree stands out with its weird stringy bark. I wish I had taken some notes on everything she talked about. Part of the range is listed on the World Heritage site, it's beautiful. She points out the tree that has a large spiky growth that indigenous tribes used as hair brushes, the devilhead flowering bushes that look like devils with their spiky horns and then we spot the train on the other side of the canyon...then there's the interesting markings in tree bark carved in by insects......she shows us how the aborigines used different colored stones to make their earth toned paint and demonstrates four colors mixed with water on a large bolder.


We see more Australian birds, the Laughing Kookaburras, Crimson Rosella parrots and Black Cockatoos. This is the norm, these are their "robins and sparrows and starlings...."

Mel tells us about some of the tragic bush fires in the area and the Black Saturday fires that happened in Victoria last year. I notice many articles in the papers about this as the first anniversary of the fires happens while we are there.




Mel tells us there are 20-30 little towns in the Mountains here that people like to visit to get away from the city. She stops in one, Leura, where we have lunch and then wonder about the little shops for about an hour and a half. We see a couple of fantastic galleries, one Michael White and the other Papyrus. Michael White does large color abstract landscapes of the bush area. Gorgeous! Papyrus has some great prints. Zach sneaks a photo of one artist he really likes. (have to get their name) A pricey, but nice area to walk around.

When we tell Mel how much we love Aboriginal art (I think the politically correct term over there is "Indigenous") she asks if we want to see some original indigenous artist hand-painted boomerangs. She says she knows the artists, and likes to help them out. She buys them at cost and doesn't make anything on them. We're a bit skeptical, but what the heck. We end up buying one. They're signed on the back and use just the true earth colors...she explains how many of these artists are being ripped off like us? :) and how there are also a lot of inauthentic pieces being passed off. It has the kangaroo painted at the top, which represents happiness. She also gives us a guide to their symbols. Nice simple piece, $25. I do notice when we look in stores the boomerangs are priced higher and never signed, just put out there really like tourist chachkas saying Made in Australia..hah! and coated with shellac...anyways. It's been a wonderful rich day and I've really enjoyed this tour.

We get home before dinner. We take the subway and walk (yes back to our walking) down to Darling Harbor, its hot and sticky, but the sky has cleared. We eat at Nick's, a seafood restaurant recommended by Mel right outside on the harborside. Gorgeous views of everything. We have another overpriced dinner, OUCH! Food here is insanely expensive, but we figure we are also paying for the view. I have Barramundi ; really delicious fish. Great salads... Service is a bit spotty. They bring Zach the wrong order, forget my dressing and bring John two salads.. John vents about the hilariously awful meal we had in Chinatown and we get it on video..then we stop for gelato for John, which is pretty popular here. Tomorrow (Feb 4) we're off to Manly Beach.